First report of Sydowia polyspora causing disease on Pinus pinea shoots

The fungus Sydowia polyspora is frequently isolated from conifers worldwide and is considered a pathogen on several hosts. Stone pine (Pinus pinea) is one of the most important forestry species throughout the Mediterranean basin due to the value of the edible pine nut. Stone pines showing tip dieback, needles with tan‐ to yellow‐coloured lesions and shoot death, observed in stands in Portugal, were sampled for analysis. Fungal colonies covered with cream‐coloured spore masses, were consistently obtained. Morphological and phylogenetic analyses of the ITS rDNA region enabled identification of these isolates as S. polyspora. Inoculation tests showed that the fungus caused lesions on excised P. pinea shoots. The symptoms observed might have a negative effect on pine nut production, and thus, evaluation of the impact of this disease is of relevance to future research. This paper is the first to report S. polyspora causing disease on P. pinea.